Wrapped in white prayer shawls as priests sang hymns over loudspeakers, Ethiopian voters yesterday were choosing between the ruling coalition that ended a brutal dictatorship in 1991 and new opposition parties who promise greater liberalization.
The campaign under a government that has sometimes shown authoritarian tendencies had won qualified international approval, and foreign election observers reported no serious problems as voting progressed yesterday.
Foreign election observers were monitoring the elections for the first time in Ethiopia's history.
PHOTO: AP
EU observers inspecting four polling stations found 454 ballots with an unclear irregular mark in central Addis Ababa and similar ballots outside the capital. None of the ballots were pre-marked for the ruling party, as earlier reported. Opposition politicians had charged that thousands of pre-marked ballots had been circulated.
The National Election Board said the mark was a printing error and Ethiopians finding such ballots need not worry that their votes would not be counted.
Late on Saturday, opposition leaders also accused the police of rounding up hundreds of opposition candidates and poll observers in order to rig the elections in the rural areas. Government officials denied the opposition allegations.
Voters had begun lining up before dawn on a cool, misty morning for the third election in the country's 3,000-year history. The turnout appeared extremely high, in marked contrast to the 2000 election. Polls close at 6pm local time, but anyone in line at closing time will be allowed to vote.
Derje Woubeshet, an unemployed 29-year-old, said he was voting for the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy because he felt the ruling party had failed to create jobs.
"They brought me disaster, all the people are fed up," he said outside a primary school in Addis Ababa. "They have been supported for the last 15 years, now we need a new government."
Wahib Toure, a cotton producer, said complaints do not make a political agenda and that he would vote for the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front.
"The opposition talked about grievances, but that is not enough to be elected, they are not organized," Wahib, 60, said.
Beyene Petros, vice chairman of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, said he had seen reports of vote rigging that "are only the tip of the iceberg."
Petros produced a marked ballot with an electoral seal which was already marked for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling coalition. He said thousands of such ballots began circulating on Saturday.
Information Minister Bereket Simon said that he called police stations across the country to investigate the opposition claims. "This is absolutely false," Bereket said.
Former US president Jimmy Carter said that the 24 teams of observers from the Carter Center had reported no problems with the balloting early yesterday, but they were looking into the opposition's allegations. More than 500 foreign observers were monitoring the polls.
Ethiopia was an absolute monarchy under Emperor Haile Selassie until the mid-1970s, when a brutal Marxist junta overthrew him.
Civil wars wracked the ethnically fractured country in the 1980s, and famine took as many as 1 million lives. Meles' rebel group overthrew the junta in 1991. Meles became president, then prime minister in 1995, and is now seeking a third term.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
PINEAPPLE DEBATE: While the owners of the pizzeria dislike pineapple on pizza, a survey last year showed that over 50% of Britons either love or like the topping A trendy pizzeria in the English city of Norwich has declared war on pineapples, charging an eye-watering ￡100 (US$124) for a Hawaiian in a bid to put customers off the disputed topping. Lupa Pizza recently added pizza topped with ham and pineapple to its account on a food delivery app, writing in the description: “Yeah, for ￡100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on, you monster!” “[We] vehemently dislike pineapple on pizza,” Lupa co-owner Francis Wolf said. “We feel like it doesn’t suit pizza at all,” he said. The other co-owner, head chef Quin Jianoran, said they kept tinned pineapple
RSS